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DISTRICT GRANT REQUEST INFO:
PARK HISTORY:
In 2002, Taysom Rotary Park was developed as a community resource and a trailhead for the Portneuf Greenway trail system. Rotary involvement in this park reflects its strong support for providing appealing public facilities in cooperation with other organizations. The location has easy access to a section of the Greenway that was being paved and development was done to augment work done by the Portneuf Greenway Foundation in the late 1990's. The land is owned by the City of Pocatello but no park development had been done at that time. After grading, installing an automatic sprinkler system, planting turf grass & trees and paving a connecting trail, the park was dedicated on May 20, 2002 with a City of Pocatello commitment to maintain it. Funding to develop the park was received from the three Pocatello Rotary Clubs, the Rotary Club of Osaka Japan, several community businesses, the Ifft Foundation and the City of Pocatello. An annual maintenance payment to the City of Pocatello Parks Dept. has been paid by the Pocatello-Gate City Rotary Club.
All further improvements to this park have been the result of cooperative local Rotary Club projects.
• Late 2002 -- a Speakers Grove of trees was planted by the Rotary Club of Pocatello;
• 2004 - a stage/picnic shelter was installed at the park as the Rotary Centennial Project;
• 2006 - installed power and paving to improve the stage/picnic shelter;
• Various years - additional trees were planted to recognize Group Study Exchange visits;
• 2015 - another tree was planted to commemorate District Governor Rick Phillips; and
• February 2016 - the stage /picnic shelter was re-dedicated.
PROJECT PURPOSE:
As the years have progressed, the park has become more popular, including the use of the shelter for family and community gatherings. For several years, the Portneuf Greenway Riverfest was held at this park until the event outgrew the park's capacity. In late 2017 and early 2018 meetings with the City of Pocatello Parks Department and the Boards of three Rotary Clubs in Pocatello, a 5-year park improvement plan was created to not only refresh the park but also expand its facilities to accommodate increased use.
Year One of this park improvement plan will be completed in June 2018 (Rotary Year 2017-2018) and includes new landscaping, fencing, signage and preparing for paving an expanded parking lot. This will be entirely funded by the Pocatello-Gate City Rotary Club.
Year Two of this park improvement plan (this District Grant request) is projected to be completed by the end of the 2018 construction season. It includes only the paving of the expanded parking lot. This will expand the parking lot from 4 spaces to 12 spaces. The paving will be done by the City of Pocatello and include a wider entrance to the park as well as additional parking. The City must get approval by City Council to allocate their labor as an in-kind donation to the project, but there has been a precedent set for this with previous projects involving the Portneuf Greenway trail system. Expansion of this parking lot is critical to support the current use of this park as well as enabling expected increases in use as a result of future years' improvements described below. If the in-kind labor donation is not approved, other grant funding sources will be investigated to completely fund the paving and complete the project in the early part of the construction season of 2019. Project Manager Oli Devaud, Pocatello-Gate City Rotary Club will take the lead in applying for other grant funds.
Years Three through Five of this park improvement plan include the installation of a "tot-lot" playground with safety surface, improvement & expansion of the existing stage/picnic shelter and construction of a permanent restroom facility.
Rotary Volunteers are willing to help with labor and preparation of the project.
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